Eventually, it stopped, and luckily, she had started antibiotics early enough that possible side effects like gangrene stayed away. Her only other syptom was a slight headache -- well, that and the scar on her arm that she'll carry for life.

Now marked, she has a new perspective on spiders and the damage they can do. "It made me more aware as far as we're constantly looking, we're checking the bedding before we go to bed, our coats," Bradish said.

Bradish, though, remains sanguine and calm about the whole experience. She says now she had never been particularly afraid of spiders.

"But now every little spider, I'm killing it," she said.

It's unknown how a brown recluse ended up in northern Michigan -- It must have hitchhiked its way on someone's clothes or in a camper or car.

According to livescience.com, "The brown recluse spider is well-known for its appearance and poisonous bite. It is the most common and widespread of the brown spiders, but it is found only in the south and central United States. Brown recluse spiders live in a region comprising Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.

According to the entomology department at the University of California, Riverside, if you live outside those areas, "it is highly unlikely that you have a recluse spider. It is possible but incredibly unlikely."